Product Details

• Actors: Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, Beau Starr, George P. Wilbur
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• VHS Release Date: November 15, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (308 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305063443
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,830 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"You can't kill the bogeyman," the children insist to a terrorized Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the original Halloween. How right they are. Laurie is gone, but guess who's back in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers? Acting as if the third entry never existed, this installment picks up 10 years after the original, with mad maniac Myers in a coma and moved to a new facility. But wouldn't you know it that as soon as a loose-lipped orderly lets slip that Myers has a surviving niece he springs back into action, leaving a bloody trail of corpses on the road to Haddonfield. Donald Pleasance returns as Dr. Loomis, scarred and crippled from his last encounter with Myers and seething with a fanatical zeal to stop the freak from repeating his previous rampage. Pleasance is the best thing about the film as an aging hero seemingly on the verge of madness who drags a bum leg in his manic rush to save little orphan Jamie (Danielle Harris), the 10-year-old waif terrorized by her homicidal uncle. Director Dwight Little has managed a generic if professional slasher picture, rife with improbabilities and dominated by a killer whose superhuman powers reach near-mystical dimensions, but he delivers the goods: shocks, stabs, and cold, cruel killings. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome home, Michael, October 21, 2002

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Halloween 4 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Halloween 4 is a terrific entry in the best slasher series of all time. While it doesn't have quite the all-pervading atmosphere, suspense, and general gloom and doom of the incomparable original, it more than lives up to the Halloween tradition. To me, the key to this movie's success is the acting talent of both Donald Pleasance (Dr. Loomis) and young newcomer Danielle Harris (Michael's niece Jamey). Disfigured from his encounter with Michael ten years earlier, Dr. Loomis strides through this movie as the avenging hero he is, having to convince foolish minds that Michael has returned home to wreak havoc yet again. Of course, you can blame a couple of paramedics for tipping Michael off that he still has a living relative, namely his sister Laurie's little girl Jamie (Laurie has supposedly died in an accident a year earlier). After Michael is transferred out from under Loomis' nose, he naturally escapes and begins leaving a trail of bodies on his way to Haddonfield. Loomis is right behind him, intent on saving the little girl from her evil uncle. The young Danielle Harris gives an incredible performance for someone so young, conveying emotion and fear quite convincingly. After this movie came out, I remember hearing some criticism of terrorizing such a young person in this type of horror atmosphere, and Harris spoke quite eloquently on the subject from her perspective. She brings to this movie talent well beyond her years.

Surprisingly, this movie is not altogether that graphic. We rarely get to see the actual coup de grace of each killing (and in a couple of cases we don't even see the actual murder), and even the remains of the slain never exhibit much blood loss. Of course, Michael uses a variety of means (including his bare hands) to murder his victims here. I for one missed the guy's trademark knifings. He does get hold of a knife eventually, but, sadly, he doesn't get much of a chance to use it. As for Michael himself, it is easy to see that the man behind the mask is not the original "shape" Nick Castle. George P. Wilbur has a slightly different build, and he just doesn't have the malevolent presence Castle possessed. He is strong in the category of standing still and watching from the shadows, but he is a little awkward in his movements and often seems to be patterning them on those of King Kong.

This movie has some really nice touches to it, several that strongly call to mind pivotal scenes from the original. Another master stroke is the conclusion, which certainly surprised me when I first saw it. Far too often a trite ending can ruin one's impression of an otherwise good horror movie, but Halloween 4 offers evidence of how much a terrific ending can increase one's enjoyment of an already satisfying experience. By inserting a whole new chapter in the Michael Myers saga, Halloween 4 actually injected the series with newfound life (and blood); it certainly excited me as a fan, and that is something that most sequels of sequels simply do not do.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's October 31, 1988..and HE is coming home again, October 29, 1999

By 

"keith7821" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Halloween 4 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" is actually quite a good continuation, despite what some people say about sequels. It picks up 10 years after "Halloween II" ended. Michael Myers ends up in a coma after being blown up in the operating room in II. He awakens when being transferred to another hospital after he overhears he has a niece in Haddonfield, Jamie Lloyd, the daughter of Laurie Strode, who is dead (or so we thought). He ends up traveling to Haddonfield and here we are treated to what made the original such a success. Less blood, more suspense, tight scenes and a dark atmosphere are all prevalent in this entry. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is now scarred and crippled after also being blown up with Myers, and he teams up with Sheriff Meeker (Beau Starr) to stop what could be a repeat of what happened 10 years before that. With Jamie Lee Curtis absent, the "scream queen" duties fall to Ellie Cornell as Rachel, Jamie's step-sister. She does a terrific job and she has some great lines in this one. The ending is definitely the best of the whole series, and it still gives me the creeps to this very day. Rent Halloween 4 for a good scare.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Halloween 4, Return of the Shape!, February 20, 2000

By 

Camren T. Burton (WA, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Halloween 4 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Halloween 4, The Return of Michael Myers, in my opinion, is a spectacular beginning for the story told in 4-6. Like Jamie Lee Curtis, actress Danielle Harris makes her big debut with Michael Myers in this excellent sequel. Also returning is Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis, the hero, not 'the mad doctor'. This movie had one of the best actors playing Michael, George P. Wilbur. His portrayal of Myers was well-acted, although the loud muffled breathing heard in 1 & 2 is absent. This movie had just the right pace for me, with great drama and a great remix of the Halloween theme written by John Carpenter. However, if Loomis couldn't stop Michael with eleven gunshots and a fire, what makes the State Troopers think they can kill him with a few dozen shots? One thing they don't understand is that Michael is not a normal human being. Get that through your skulls! Of course he can't be killed, or else it would be the end of what becomes a great horror series. The Halloween movies are well-acted and filmed, unlike most of the Friday the 13th movies. By the way, does anyone else think that Jason Voorhees, while intimidating, is just a cheap knockoff of Michael? Michael debuted in 1978, while Jason didn't show up until 1981.